Artist Scarlett Crawford has been appointed by the UK Parliament for a new project entitled First Waves: Exploring the impact of race relations legislation in the UK.

Over the course of her residency, Scarlett will hold workshops with partner organisations across the country – Race Council Cymru leads a partnership of the Wales wide Black History Wales Network, Swansea Museum, Fusion Programme – City and County of Swansea and St Fagan’s National Museum of History in Cardiff – to create artworks with local people which explore and celebrate the 1965, 1968 and 1976 Race Relations Acts. The project is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Race Relations Act.

Parliament’s First Waves artist will be holding a series of workshops in Swansea and Cardiff in June 2018 to creatively capture the voices of generations who have been directly impacted by the Race Relations Acts, but who may have had little opportunity to have their voices heard in Westminster. The workshops are open to all, however Race Council Cymru would be particularly interested in hearing from ethnic minority participants who were living in the UK before and after the 1965, 1968 and 1976 Acts.

Race Council Cymru is working with four lead partners to house the workshops with Scarlett Crawford: Swansea Museum (Supported by Fusion Programme, City and County of Swansea) in the heart of Swansea and St Fagan’s National Museum of History in Cardiff (Supported by Wales wide Black History Wales Network). These workshops will take place on the 4th and 5th June 2018 for St. Fagans, Cardiff and 19th and 20th June 2018 at Swansea Museum.

The artworks created will be exhibited in the community on the 29th of September 2018 at the Black History Month Creative Arts Launch events and then displayed in Parliament for an exhibition in 2019 which will look at the impact of race relations legislation and the stories of the people who fought for change. The Race Council Cymru artworks will then be returned permanently to the community that inspired them.

Scarlett Crawford, First Waves artist, said:“I’m really excited to have been chosen to creatively explore the impact of race relations legislation across the country. Working in collaboration with local communities I hope to discover the unheard stories of those who were affected by the changes, to honour the contributions of those who led the way, and to inspire future generations of people from all backgrounds to engage with art and politics.”

Mrs Uzo Iwobi OBE Chief Executive Office of Race Council Cymru:-

“Race Council Cymru(RCC) is absolutely delighted to represent Wales on this UK wide initiative. This project will enable us to capture reflections of the journey of race equality over the last 50 years. Judge Ray Singh CBE our chairperson and I are both former Commissioners to the Commission for Racial Equality and worked with Co- Commissioners to progress the understanding and implementation of the Race Relations Acts. Working with Scarlett on the First Waves project will give our diverse ethnic minority groups in Wales the opportunity to co-create some artworks to mark 50 years of the race equality journey. We are very excited to be involved”.

Kevin Brennan, Member of Parliament for Cardiff West said:

“As the local MP and Shadow Minister for Arts & Heritage, I am delighted to welcome the First Waves’ workshop to St Fagan’s National Museum of History. This work will tell the story of an important part of Cardiff’s history and it is only right, those who lived through this period tell their story.”

“Today Cardiff is one of the best places to live in the UK and a huge reason for that is due to its diversity and creativity. I’m pleased to see these two things coming together for this exciting project and I’m really looking forward to seeing the end results.”

Geraint Davies, Member of Parliament for Swansea West added:

“I am delighted to welcome Scarlett Crawford and the First Waves’ workshop to Swansea in an exciting community project to explore the impact of race relations legislation in art. Swansea is a community of communities, with diversity at its heart. It makes it a fantastic place to live, work or study, so it’s important that we celebrate all the things we have to offer.

We have long been known for our artists and writers in Swansea, who have been inspired by our broad community with the backdrop of some of the most beautiful rural coastlines in the world. I am sure Ms Crawford and the team are going to have a great time working with locals at Swansea Museum and I look forward to seeing the finished piece.”

Participants of the workshops are not required to have any creative background, but should be open to exploring new ways to express themselves through a variety of media. Please email Laura Hill at info@racecouncilcymru.org.uk for more information.

Find high quality images of Scarlett, Scarlett and Partners, and Scarlett, Partners and local MPs at the following link. https://we.tl/iDiTPlTnMy

Race Council Cymru (RCC) was established by ethnic minority organisations across Wales in 2010 to champion racial cohesion through collaborative working with our grassroots ethnic minority communities across Wales. RCC promotes integration, social justice and race equality across Wales. It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

RCC works with and represents over 37 Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) grassroots communities and 107 organisations who form part of the Black History Wales Network across Wales. It works with many public, private and third sector bodies across Wales. It promotes the awareness of racial inequalities in schools and other educational institutions. It organises events for Black History Month and monitors the workings of the Equality Act 2010 to assess its impact and identify areas for improvement. RCC partners with many organisations, such as the African Community Centre, Welsh Refugee Council, Chinese in Wales Association, Thai Community, Bangladeshi Community and other bodies in the promotion of race equality. It works to improve the integration and inclusion of diverse communities at local and regional levels across Wales.

RCC is pleased to be working with four lead partners to house the workshops with Scarlett Crawford, Swansea Museum (Supported by Fusion Programme – City and County of Swansea) in the heart of Swansea and St Fagan’s National Museum of History in Cardiff (Supported by the Wales wide Black History Wales Network).

Swansea Museum is the oldest museum in Wales, and a fascinating treasure house of Swansea’s past history. The collections contain all kinds of objects from the past of Swansea, Wales and the rest of the world. In the main museum building we have everything from an Egyptian mummy to a Welsh Kitchen, displayed in six galleries. There are also many changing temporary exhibitions each year.

The Fusion Programme is a Wales wide project funded by Welsh Government with the aim to create opportunities through culture. Fusion Project works through cultural programmes that support confidence, empowerment and attainment, particularly for young people; using culture as a tool to improve physical and mental health and wellbeing. It supports the early years of development through literacy and family learning programmes. The Fusion programme focuses on communities and individuals who face the greatest barriers to participation.

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales (AC-NMW) was formed over 100 years ago and runs seven national museums across Wales. It offers free entry and visitor numbers continue to grow with over 1.6m visits made last year. It has recently launched its new vision, ‘Inspiring people, Changing lives’, which encapsulates its aspirations, as a leader in the cultural sector, to break down barriers for young people and those in most need. AC-NMW has a wide-ranging programme of free events from drop in activities to talks, workshops, lectures and demonstrations. AC-NMW’s anti-poverty agenda is cited as sector-leading by the Welsh Government and it has ambitious plans to develop programmes of deeper, broader and more lasting impact that will make a real difference to the people of Wales and beyond. AC-NMW is the largest provider of learning outside of the classroom in Wales.

The Wales wide Black History Wales Network is a network of 107 diverse organisations such as the Wales Millennium Centre, Black History Cymru Elders Forum, Barnados, Princes Trust etc. who work together to manage, coordinate and celebrate black history month annual celebrations in October – as well as facilitating the All Wales Black History Cymru 365 programme of work. The Black History Wales Network was established 11yrs ago and was set up to celebrate the contributions made by black people to local, national and world history and culture. It does this through delivering an informative educational and celebratory programme of events through out the year, culminating in October for Black History Month each year. It encourages everyone, irrespective of ethnicity or colour, to take part in events, learn about our shared global history and celebrate diversity and cultural understanding. Black History Network is managed by Race Council Cymru.

With support from Parliament’s Curator’s Office and Outreach and Engagement Teams, the First Wavesartist will undertake six regional placements as part of her residency. The first is due to begin in spring 2018, in partnership with the Glasgow Women’s Library. The other confirmed partners are Nottingham Contemporary, Race Council Cymru, Thamesmead Peabody and the University of Leeds. The 1965, 1968 and 1976 Race Relations Acts only applied in England, Scotland and Wales, therefore no residencies will be undertaken in Northern Ireland. Follow news about the residency.

The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art agreed to commission an artist-in-residence to explore and celebrate the impact of the 1965, 1968 and 1976 Race Relations Acts on 1 November 2016. The artist’s fee is £25,000, plus costs, which will be met by the Works of Art Committee’s existing budget. A separate fee, to be determined, will be paid for the commission of a permanent piece of art for the Parliamentary Art Collection, on the acceptance of the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art.

Scarlett Crawford (b. 1982) is a British artist who is passionate about equality and diversity in the arts and education and has worked as an artist and educator within the community and creative industries for the past 10 years. Her photographic work examines the semiotics of race and class and uses lens-based media to create images that try to portray narratives of the underrepresented, without reinforcing their position as ‘Other’. She makes images that juxtapose object, person and place in participatory constructed portraiture that is both jarring and surreal, blurring the lines between fact and fiction, stage and document. As a qualified teacher she has worked in schools, pupil referral units and youth offending services. As an artist she has worked with organisations such as Photofusion and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Visit Scarlett Crawford’s website.

History of the Race Relations Acts: TheRace Relations Act 1965 was the first piece of legislation in the UK to address the prohibition of racial discrimination and followed previously unsuccessful bills. The Act banned racial discrimination in public places and made the promotion of hatred on the grounds of ‘colour, race, or ethnic or national origins’ an offence. The Bill received Royal Assent on 8 November 1965, and came into force a month later on 8 December 1965. It was introduced by the Government in response to the increasing number of people who had moved to the UK from other Commonwealth countries; at the time of the Act being passed there were nearly one million immigrants living in the UK. It was criticised for failing to address vital areas where discrimination was most prevalent, namely employment and wider aspects of acquiring accommodation. This led to the passing of the Race Relations Act 1968, which made unlawful acts of discrimination within employment, housing and advertising. The Race Relations Act 1976 established the Commission for Racial Equality, banned direct and indirect discrimination, and allowed for complaints to be made to industrial tribunals and courts. The Macpherson inquiry into the murder in 1993 of black teenager Stephen Lawrence brought about legislative changes in 2000 that included public bodies and the police within the scope of the 1976 Act, with a general duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations. With the Equality Act 2010, the focus has moved to a duty to promote equality rather than a prohibition against individual forms of discrimination. Find out more on the UK Parliament website.

The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art was established in 1956 to advise the Speaker on matters relating to works of art in the House of Commons Collection. The Committee works to develop the collection by acquiring works that depict issues and individuals of particular historical significance to Parliament. Find out more about the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art.

Since its establishment, the Speaker’s Advisory Committee has commissioned four portraits of BAME (Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority)parliamentarians for the Parliamentary Art Collection, Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng, Baroness Amos and Bernie Grant.

Parliament’s previous Artist Residency, to celebrate women’s suffrage, was completed in June 2016, with the unveiling of the suffrage artwork, New Dawn. Find out more.

The Parliamentary Art Collection is a unique and valuable educational resource of over 8,500 artworks which document and illustrate the history of Parliament over the centuries, as well as explaining the function and activities of Parliament today. The Collection is owned jointly by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and the vast majority of artworks are displayed throughout the buildings of the Parliamentary Estate. Find out more about the Parliamentary Art Collection.

Diverse Cymru would like to invite Public Sector Organisations to register and join us for a conference on ‘Improving engagement to meet the needs of diverse communities’

Diverse Cymru and C3SC have been running a project to understand barriers diverse communities face to involvement. We also aim to change how public sector organisations involve diverse individuals and communities. Public sector organisations have been working with diverse individuals to co-produce a new way of engaging more effectively. This project has been funded by the Open Government Network Wales.

The Your Well-being, Your Government project invites you to join us as we launch this new, improved model for engaging diverse citizens.

This event is your opportunity, as a public sector organisation in Wales, to discuss the new way of delivering involvement of diverse communities and how you could implement it in your area of Wales.

The project is looking to support you to:

Reach and actively involve more diverse citizens from all protected characteristic groups

Diverse Cymru, C3SC and Race Equality First are working together as Cardiff Third Sector Partners to deliver a training event in June 2018 on practical ways you can use equality duties, the Future generations in Wales act as third sector organisations and community groups.

This practical training event is aimed at helping third sector organisations use equality duties in Wales and the Well-being of Future Generations Act to challenge discrimination, drive change and ensure public services design services to better meet the needs and wishes of diverse communities.It includes tools you can use and opportunities for discussion and questions.

This interactive community training will cover:

Influencing Strategic Equality Plans and Objectives

Influencing through Equality Impact Assessments

Using and encouraging engagement of people from all diverse communities

Links between equality duties and the Well-being of Future Generations Act

We are looking for stories that reflect contemporary Wales but it is a very open brief. And it is aimed at people without a great deal of experience as directors but who have a passion for their story and an idea of how they would realise it.

Please spread the word….. It is open to anyone – no age restriction. Last year our filmmakers included someone who works fulltime for Mencap Cymru and had never made a film before; a drama script editor, and recent graduates from media courses.

Diverse Cymru are pleased to announce that we will be part of this year’s Wales International Documentary Festival.

As part of our contribution to the festival, we will give individuals from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to meet organisations from within the creative industries, and provide advice on where the industry advertises and promotes its employment and training opportunities.

This will include information on the new Diverse Cymru Film and TV Bursary*, supported by Creative Skillset. This bursary will offer small amounts of funding, support and mentoring in Wales for people from diverse groups who already have some experience in the industry, and wish to further develop their skills and knowledge.

During the afternoon there will be opportunities to mingle and get information on current opportunities available within film and TV in Wales. There will also be advice on where the industry advertises and promotes its opportunities.

Please note that we will now NOT be showing the ‘My Wales’ Film as planned, this will be at a later date.

This is a free event and we would appreciate it if you could confirm your attendance by email to michael.flynn@diverse.cymru or call 029 2036 8888.

Wales International Documentary Festival

Wales International Documentary Festival invites you to watch the best documentary films of the year. The programme from 18th to 20th April includes masterclasses and networking events with industry experts and takes places in Blackwood. There’s an exciting line up of films from all over the world in this year’s festival and events, parties and gigs to complement the screenings. This includes a preview screening of Welsh feature, “My Grandfather The Spy” and landmark historical documentary “The Dragon Has Two Tongues” with Q&A with director Colin Thomas.

*The Diverse Cymru Film & TV Bursary supported by Creative Skillset will offer small amounts of funding, support and mentoring in Wales for people from diverse groups who already have some experience in film or television, and wish to further develop their skills and knowledge.

Individuals with experience in the industry will be invited to apply for funding support that will enable them to train and further develop their skills.

Funding can be used by successful applicants to fund or part-fund a short training course, may be used by individuals to access training opportunities and can be utilised by people to overcome travel or other barriers to opportunities.

In addition to providing funding in support of training opportunities, people will be given career advice and support from within the industry including invitations to industry events and networking opportunities, updates on free training available and job and other career opportunities.

Note : This is an additional fund for Wales running alongside Creative Skillset’s high-end TV bursary fund which supports individuals working in the industry as freelancers to help them progress within high-end drama.

Diverse Cymru is saddened to hear the latest rise in hate crime aimed at the Muslim community. The recent threatening letter entitled ‘Punish a Muslim’ is in circulation across England and Wales, encouraging a ‘national day of violence against Muslims’ on April 3rd.

Diverse Cymru is committed to supporting people faced with inequality and discrimination because of race, religion or beliefs, age, disability, gender identity and reassignment and sexual orientation. We condemn any actions which incite and encourage hatred and racism. We urge any of our friends and colleagues within the Muslim community to come forward and report any letters that you may receive or any issues that may arise in relation to this hatred.

ADVICE – What to do if you receive a copy of the letter: It is essential that anyone who receives this letter should report it to their local Police Station by dialling the non-emergency 101 numbers or contact Tell Mama: https://tellmamauk.org/submit-a-report-to-us

Diverse Cymru is also a hate crime reporting centre, you can do this by calling 02920 36 8888 or attend the office Alexandra House, 307-315 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff CF5 1JD.